Concert Review: Pepsi TeenSplash

Shocking Vibes recording artistes Beenie Man and Tanto Metro and Devonte, as well as the duo of Captain Barkey and Wickerman, stole the spotlight at the Pepsi TeenSplash, which was held on Tuesday, January 1, at Wynters Park, St. Catherine. The event attracted a bumper size crowd, which rocked to tunes from their favourite dancehall acts, and roared with laughter at some of the jokes and comedic acts, which were dished out by popular comedians and dramatists.

The show kicked off at minutes past 10 pm, and progressed until 4 am on Wednesday morning. It was incident free, and for the most part, expletive free.

The only sour note was from deejay Elephant Man, who barged past security and stage personnel, and rushed onto the stage and proceeded to grab the microphone from deejay/rapper Snagga Puss, who was about midway into his set.

Elephant Man was scheduled to perform much later on, according to the running order of the show, but he wanted to perform much earlier, before a number of lesser-known acts, to perform a show elsewhere. However, the organizers refused to let the deejay perform at his request. Hence, he barged on stage and interrupted another artiste’s performance. The crowd roared as the expletive riddled Elephant Man jumped on stage in full white outfit. He proceeded to launch into his known gesticulations and profanity, and in a twist of fate, later on declared, “Mi ago keep it clean because the kids are here.”

He managed to build a hype with songs like “Bombing,” “Jamaica,” and “Wining Queen.” He soon after lost steam and not even the current #1 song “Log On” could resurrect him from his demise. Sensing the pothole that he had fallen into, Elephant Man invited a toddler on stage to dance the “log on” and this amused the crowd.

Elephant Man’s performance threw the running order of the show in a tailspin, however, the acts of lesser known caliber than the prolific deejay, built back the vibes.

Earlier in the programme, some up-and-coming acts displayed a lot of potential and managed to justify their appearance on the annual teen event. Kananga, Mankind, hot newcomer Alkatraz (who performed the radio favourites “Rain From the Sky” and “Togetherness”), the trio of Shadu, Patchy and Chrome, deejay Razor, Hit Man Wally, Teflon and the Tag Team, and the amusing Granny, all delivered credible performances.

Warrior King seems to have lost his steam and failed to live up to expectations. He appears to be shouting instead of singing of late, and failed to carry on the momentum, after he had settled well with the crowd.

The comedic duo of Sammy Question and Freeman were good and had the crowd laughing uncontrollably to their jokes and funny anecdotes.

The duo of Captain Barkey and Wickerman have long been favourites on TeenSplash and this year they really outdid themselves. The deejays worked up a sweat and churned out the hits one after the other in a very professional manner. The crowd loved them and refused to let them go. Songs including “Hand Up Deh,” “Bun Fi Bun” and “Girls Gungo Walk” were well received by the crowd.

Tanto Metro and Devonte are a class act and continue to improve with each performance. The act went down well and they seemed to have the crowd in their corner from the word go. “Suzie,” “Give it to Her,” “Everyone Falls in Love” and “Gal Say Woee,” had the crowd singing along from start to finish.

Other good stints came from Zumjay (who seems ready for the big times), Delly Ranks (who brought the crowd alive when he delivered songs like “What a Gal Can Wine,” “Headache,” and “Work Round Dem”), Mega Banton, Yabba U and Conrad Crystal, Kirk Davis, and Thriller U. Wayne Wonder also made a nice cameo.

Assassin made a good showing and he worked well with “To Make Money” and “How We Roll.” Sugar Slick and Spragga Benz, who put some excitement into his performance, joined him on stage.

Beenie Man closed the show in the wee hours of Thursday morning. The Doctor went to work and performed the “musical surgery” which had the crowd roaring to most of the songs he performed in his catalogue. “Girls Prayer,” “Your Bad Luck” and “Model Me Gal” assisted the deejay on his voyage and he delivered one of, if not, his best local performance in many moons.

Christine Hewitt, host of TVJ’s “Man Talk” was hilarious as emcee. She was aptly assisted by television personality Owen “Bagga” Brown.

The performers were backed by the very efficient Nigel Staff-led Ruff Kutt Band.

About Kevin Jackson :

Kevin Jackson is an entertainment writer and publicist from Kingston, Jamaica. He is a freelance writer for the Jamaica Observer and Excess publications. | View all posts by Kevin Jackson →